Days 1 & 2 in Costa Rica

Well we finally made it here to Costa Rica!! After a 7 hour drive to Vegas (which included 2 1/2 hours stuck in hoover dam traffic), and two flights we are here. It is amazing, better than we ever imagined. The people here are so friendly, and are very patient with our complete lack of Spanish. Well not complete lack, we can say: red, duck, cat, hello, thank you, chicken, and your welcome, but that's about it. We are getting by with a lot of smiling and nodding. In fact at dinner last night we ended up ordering the same thing even though we pointed to different things on the menu. We stayed the first night in the capital city of San Jose. It was a nice hotel which we will be staying at again on the last night of our trip. The airport was great here, when you get done with immigration and customs they have people waiting outside to help you either get a cab, rental car, or hotel shuttle. We told them our hotel and they pointed to a spot on the curb to stand and within 5 minutes the shuttle pulled up. The next morinig we grabbed a transfer and head to cahuita. It is a very small caribbean infused town right on the ocean. We are staying in a beautiful bungalow owend by a swiss family. This morning we awoke to the wild life, and the most amazing breakfast I have ever had. Here are a few pictures of our trip so far:

Oh and the best part of Costa Rica is......Jennifer can go almost the entire day without having to find here chapstick. (Everyone knows how amazing that is)!

Busy holiday season....

Well it has been a busy busy time for us, which is why it has been over a month since we have had time to post. We finished with the fall semester, and in the middle of finals we also ended up moving apartments. We wanted more space in our cinder block student apt and put in to move to a 2 bedroom, well one came available but we had to move during finals week or they would give it to someone else. Needless to say it was a stressful week, but with some help from our friends we were able to knock the move out in one day. The day after finals we took off for our month-long vacation which started with an overnight at Brian's parents house for their family Christmas party. We had a good time hanging out with the family, it seems like we only see a lot of them at this annual party. Bright and early the next morning we started the drive to Arizona to spend Christmas with Jenn's family. It was a blast, we went to see the temple lights at the Mesa temple which is like the ones in SLC but not nearly as frigid. We were able to spend a lot of time with the whole family including the nieces and nephews who get bigger by the hour it seems. It was a great time especially since we only get to see the AZ family a couple times a year. For Christmas we decided that instead of presents for each other we would just go on a trip and relax between semesters so, tomorrow we take off to Vegas to catch our flight to Costa Rica!! We will be there for about 2 weeks chilling on the beach and getting engrossed with Central American culture. Stay tuned because we will have internet a couple times while we are there and will keep everyone updated. Hopefully you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!Here are some pictures of our vacation so far.....

HaPPy ThanksGiving.....

This year we were able to spend Thanksgiving with Brian's Family. His oldest sister Heather, and here family made it in from Idaho. We had a great time spending the entire weekend with the family. We played a little rock band, BLACK FRIDAY shopping, New moon, and the temple lights. We sure do have a lot to be grateful for this year!

Separate Vacations...

Brian wanted to go to Las Vegas, and Jenn wanted to go to Phoenix what to do....? Separate Vacations.


Actually Brian's friend Blake is going to law school in Vegas, so he and his friend Eric decided to take the weekend to visit him. They had a good time, a little buffet, a little gambling, a little watching the Utes get their butts kicked, and a whole lotta wax museum. They drove down, which wasn't too bad if you don't count the cigarette lighter getting a penny stuck in it and blowing a fuse, the coolant temperature sensor going out, and having to replace two tires.

Jenn found some cheap last minute tickets to Phoenix to visit her family during the same weekend, well a weekend, plus the 3 days before the weekend and the 2 after. She had a great time playing with the nieces and nephews, shopping with her Mom and Sister, and helping her little bro train for the police academy.

We both had a good time, but even better was that we were both in nice weather while SLC was in a white-out!

HaPPy BirTHdAy......

Happy Birthday Brian!!! Your lookin pretty good for 27!

HaPPy HaLLoWeeN.......

This Year Halloween happened to fall on a football game day! Luckily it was the Utes Black out game so we got to dress in Halloween attire!

WE HEART NYC.........

Thanks to a few of our good friends, we were able to spend the week in, Connecticut, and New York! The trip started with the red eye to JFK. Being that we were so excited to get there we did not sleep a wink. Once we landed the cramped filled trip began. I can honestly say that we must of seen everything in only five days! Here are alot of pictures from our trip.....get ready, there is ALOT!

Central Park

Rowing around the lake at the Boathouse in Central Park

The Statue of Liberty

The New York Public Library

The Metropolitan Museum

View from The Empire State Building

Ice skating at Rockefeller Center

View from the top of 30 Rockefeller

View of NYC from New Jersey

On the ferry to dinner in New Jersey

Also on the ferry

Waiting outside to sit FRONT ROW at The Letterman Show

The Mayan calender at the Natural History Museum

One of the many beautiful Churches in the city

Dinosaur at the Natural History Museum

The financial district

At Ellis Island

Construction at Ground Zero

Shopping in Chinatown

Times Square

After seeing The Lion King

The beach in Connecticut

The Boys

Thanks for a great trip!